RNC Files Formal Complaint Over Obama Campaigning On Taxpayer-Funded Excursions

[Tx4obama]

On Wednesday, the Republican National Committee filed a formal complaint with the Government Accountability Office over President Barack Obama’s use of official taxpayer-funded presidential resources for what appears to be campaign-related trips to swing states.

<SNIP>

Article and letter here: http://www.mediaite.com/online/rnc-files-formal-complaint-over-obama-campaigning-on-taxpayer-funded-excursions/

[annabanana]

1. massive pile of elephant dung..

try not to step in it.

[rfranklin]

2. Bush was on campaign flights daily during 2004...

There was always some fig leaf of an official appearance that lasted 15 minutes before the big fundraising dinner. They didn't care then, did they? This is the same old Republican scheme of attacking your opponents for the sins they have committed.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. The GOP has officially crossed the line into self-parody

They've been teetering at the edge for awhile now but they seem to have "crossed over".


I say that if they really want to go there, then we need to open Bush campaign records from 2004 as well, not to mention the 2004 "travel schedule" of cabinet officials like DHS Secretary Ridge and Jim Towney (Office of Faith Based Initiatives).

[Tx4obama]

4. And as a side note: George W. Bush should reimburse the taxpayers for all of his vacations

George W. Bush:

Days at Camp David: 487 days (149 trips)
Days at Texas Crawford ranch: 490 days (77 trips)
Days at Kennebunkport Compound: 43 days

Total: 1020 days, more than 1/3rd of his presidency. Bush set the record for most vacation time taken by president.

And that does not include days of vacation taken elsewhere.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Yeah

this is America and we're not *supposed* to *reward* people whom are lazy and don't want to work with taxpayer dollars!

[HopeHoops]

5. Yo, RNC - You can eat a mile of my shit to see where it came from.

[Tx4obama]

7. Regarding past presidents...

<SNIP>
President George Bush made more political trips “than any president in history” before the 1990 midterm elections, The Los Angeles Times wrote, and “by mixing official and political travel” passed much of the cost to taxpayers. Bill Clinton, newly re-elected, “may well have set a record for political travel” in 1997 as he flew to fund-raisers to erase Democrats’ debt, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

And George W. Bush was “using Air Force One for re-election travel more heavily than any predecessor, wringing maximum political mileage from a perk of office paid for by taxpayers,” The Associated Press wrote in 2004.

Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan made an “official” visit to Ohio before the midterm elections and told his audience about all the positive things he would have liked to say about the Republican candidates for governor and senator who were there.

But, he added, “This isn’t a political rally, so I won’t say any of those things!”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/us/politics/presidential-vs-political-trips-a-blurry-line-for-obama.html?pagewanted=all

Bush Cabinet Secretaries Illegally Campaigned at Taxpayer Expense, Report Finds
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bush-administration-officials-campaigned-taxpayer-expense-report-finds/story?id=12758901

[sakabatou]

8. The irony! IT BURRRRRNS!

[Carla in Sequim]

10. Frivolous lawsuits.

I thought they didn't like them. Oh, brother.

[NNRA]

9. He's the President . . .

so he must travel on taxpayer expense; vacation or otherwise. How else will he get to these place and be safe?

[Arkana]

11. He's the fucking President.

That's why he gets to do this. Don't like it, Republicans? Tough shit.

[JoePhilly]

12. How dare Obama be President!!!